Virtual Memory?

C

CmaN3

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 5, 2004
Messages
368
Meh, my stupid computer has to little? I dunno. I keep getting a messag that says my paging file is to small, and will be expanded. it also says that some programs may be denied access. How can i make this go faster :confused: ? Some of my games dont work, so i would like to make it go faster. :mad: :(
 
35 posts telling you that the PF should be removed completely, 39 posts arguing that the PF should remain, and a few miscellaneous somewhat related posts before this topic gets to the regular stopping point.
 
CmaN3 said:
Meh, my stupid computer has to little? I dunno. I keep getting a messag that says my paging file is to small, and will be expanded. it also says that some programs may be denied access. How can i make this go faster :confused: ? Some of my games dont work, so i would like to make it go faster. :mad: :(
Click to expand...

None of this sounds like a problem with a page file. How about telling us the amount of system memory you have, how your page file is set...what OS your running....etc. As you can see by my sig, ESP is currently set to disabled...so if you want an answer, you have to at least gives us some hints that might let us help you.
 
I'll go against the grain of GreNMEs predicition and take this a whole different direction. ;)

Have you checked for spyware? What's taking up your memory now, that you didn't have before (assuming you haven't always gotten this message)?
 
Ok, i have 256megs or ram. Running WinXp. I have somewhere about 20 gigs or free HD space. I ran Ad-aware and Spybot S&D yesterday. I have also run norton and AVG antivirus. I cant remember the exact message. Just that virtual memory is to low, and the file will be expanded, but soem applications will be denied access. Help? :confused:
 
how big is your pagefile? is it set to a set size or do you allow windows to resize it as necessary
 
CmaN3 said:
Ok, i have 256megs or ram. Running WinXp. I have somewhere about 20 gigs or free HD space. I ran Ad-aware and Spybot S&D yesterday. I have also run norton and AVG antivirus. I cant remember the exact message. Just that virtual memory is to low, and the file will be expanded, but soem applications will be denied access. Help? :confused:
Click to expand...

Post how your Page File is configured. Also, consider a memory upgrade. Getting another 256 MB chip would be cheap and certainly would help.
 
Definitely check those page file settings. The generally accepted rule of thumb seems to be to have 2x your ram up to a max of 512MB. In this case, that would be 512MB exactly. To ensure it uses what you tell it to as well as running faster since it won't be increasing/decreasing the page file, you set the minimum and maximum to the same thing. To find the settings for this, go to the control panel, and open the system settings. I believe it's under the advanced tab and the button you want should say something like performance settings. On the next window you just select the virtual memory tab and there will be the settings. You can try what I said or not, but, at least tell us what those settings are, just in case.

And djnes is technically right that getting more ram would help you a lot. You really need a minimum of 512 to get XP to run with any semblance of smoothness, despite what the minimum requirements say. Of course, that's rather avoiding the whole problem completely and it could still crop up, just it would take longer to occur.
 
Well, im not putting any money into this POS, considering i am getting more parts for my new computer :) . So this is just gonna have to do for a while. Ill check the file.
 
What Apps are open or what are you doing on the computer when the system tells you your virtual memory is too low?
 
More important than RAM and PF settings, is WTF is using the memory? Maybe I wasn't thorough enough in my post. VMM=page file + RAM. Sure you can increase either and you will get more VMM. So the simple answer to your question is, increase the VMM.

However, nothing is simple. ;)

For now, I'm assuming your machine has been running for a little while, and this is a new problem. If that's the case, something has changed. The amount of VMM you have had was OK, but now it's not. The main question is, what's requiring more memory?

Is this a new setup, or has this OS been install for a year?

Have you installed/run any new software that would require a lot more memory (games mostly, but any 'large' application would do)?

Spyware may be the case, and more VMM a bandaid. If this is the case, you have other problems your not noticing, and you will likely run out of memory again, or get poor perofrmance out of the system.

Resizing your page file isn't something your 'just do,' either. There is a process, unless you have a defragmenter that will touch a page file (default defrag won't). Otherwise you end up with a fragmented pagefile.
 
Wow, it had 189-202. This thing came with 128megs or ram. I changed the page file, but i guess i didnt do it right. I just went in and changed it. Hopefully it will help a bit. I get this message at random times, not when im running a program. It is just an alert in the bottom right corner. Ill see if it worked. Thanks for the help guys.
 
Right. Set it to a min AND max of 512 and things should theoretically go smoothly barring any other factors messing things up... *knocks on wood*

Phoenix86, earlier he said he did a spyware check and it came up empty. That's why we were focusing back on stuff like the amount of actual ram. If it were set too low (and guess what, it turns out that it was) then it would cause windows to start giving that message under NORMAL circumstances as well. This is why it was necessary to check that first.
 
Yeah I saw that and forgot to post more on it... Adaware must be SE, or its POS. Spybot S&D requires a little bit more user knowledge to run than others. My point being, he could have missed things. Spyware, if written poorly (and which one isn't) can suck up RAM like a mofo.

Also, it's pointless to change your VM unless you size your requirements first. Otherwise your flying by the seat of your pants. However, on an older systems your not going to be running the latest game, so performance isn't often a high requirement.

Oh well, looks like this has been an ongoing issue with low VM, not something new anyways. Increase your page file, and definatly set the min and max to the same. You should also look at downloading a defrager to get your page file back in shape. O&O Defrag was free (last I checked) and had that feature.
 
Yea, the only game I run on my beast :rolleyes: is gunbound. It even lagges on that. But im getting a new computer soon so i wont have to worry about this piece of crap. Thanks for the help guys. :)
 
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